


Tracing Your Face

by Applesaday



Series: Countless Lifetimes [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Blind AU, F/F, Non-magical AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 07:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2723453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applesaday/pseuds/Applesaday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma Swan has officially given up on trying to find a job. She was either pitied to the point where she'd quit, or she screwed things up so badly she was kicked to the curb, no in between. With no immediate jobs in the horizon and her money supply dangerously low, she decides to take her sister's offer and live with her in Storybrooke. Finding a job in a small town to tide her over should be easy, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tracing Your Face

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the first prompt! It's much lighter than the previous one [I honestly have my doubts I'll ever get around to writing another super sad fic, but we'll see].
> 
> Though I'm completely floored at the amazing reaction I got from the previous one-shot, I didn't think people would like it so much!
> 
> So, funny story, I was originally going to do a modern AU for the prompt, and then I reached a block, and started writing a FTL AU with the same prompt. And then my imagination went wild, and now the FTL story will probably be expanded into a full fic, so for now, we'll have this Modern AU for the prompt, and maybe I'll think about posting the FTL AU.
> 
> But anyway! Enjoy this drabble! It's another long one!

_Comedy-ish_

**Prompted by:**  fanficfan1313 - I want one of them to be blind. In my mind for some reason I think it would be Regina but that would be totally up to you. And I want it to be like the one that's blind is weak or can't make it because they are blind... more like I want them to be strong about it and that's what makes the other fall in love with them.  _Rest of the prompt omitted because SPOILERS!_

**Warnings/ Notes:**  It's a blind AU, and no magic or anything. Also, the Nolans' apartment here is a teensy bit different than Mary Margaret's apartment in the show, mainly because WALLS, they are a crucial thing to have! So have the show's apartment as a base, but don't get confused when all of a sudden things have shifted or there are rooms where there were none before.

* * *

_"Why don't you come live here for a while? I know you hate the small town life, but maybe getting away from all that city rush and finding a job here wouldn't be the end of the world, right?"_

The words echoed around Emma's head as she sat on the Greyhound taking her to Storybrooke. She would've loved to have told her adopted sister that no way in hell was she going to join the humdrum small town life that she had abhorred since her early days in foster care, but right now it was either that or nothing. And she couldn't live with nothing. She was proud to the point of being hard-headed, but she knew well enough that some times, she had to get off her high horse and admit that right now, she was broke and needed help.

"Oh look at the trees, the fall colours are truly impressive in Maine!" Emma's seat companion, an old lady from the sound of it, was once more trying to make conversation with her. She had tried to make small talk throughout the ride, and Emma just gave noncommittal answers and grunts, hoping the older lady would get the hint that she wasn't in the conversational mood. She didn't.

"Yeah... beautiful."

The bus didn't actually go all the way to Storybrooke, but rather to a town nearby. That's how small Storybrooke was. It was so microscopic that a bus wouldn't even dare to come near it. That's why now, after an agonizing 6 hour ride, she had grabbed her backpack and suitcase with the help of the driver, and was waiting by a small bus station in what she heard was picturesque Sunnydale, Maine.

"Emma!" She turned her head to the source of the voice, recognizing it instantly.

"David! How are you?" She flashed a smile and next thing she knew she was getting hugged tightly by her sister's husband.

"Just fine. Mary Margaret has been practically counting down the days until came. She didn't even sleep last night." David let out an easy laugh, loosening his grip after a couple of moments.

Emma laughed with him, "She always gets so over-excited over the smallest things."

The laughter died down, and Emma noticed a shift in his tone. "Well this isn't exactly a small happening Emma, it  _has_  been 5 years."

She quieted down at that. She'd never been good with keeping in touch with people, and although Mary Margaret was the one person in the entire world that she loved unconditionally and would go to the ends of the earth for, she had been reluctant to visit her sister after their last meeting.

At the awkward silence, David cleared his throat and went to grab her things. "Here, let me grab this huge luggage from you and we can get going. If we take too long Mary Margaret will come drag you to Storybrooke herself."

For once Emma let herself be helped, and hooked an arm around David's offered one as they went to his truck. In 10 minutes they were out on the road, Emma enjoying the brisk autumn Maine air that was caressing her face coming in from the open windows of the truck.

* * *

"Well, here we are."

Emma was dragged away from her daydreaming lull on the way into town by David's voice. "Already?"

"It has been half an hour Emma."

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I just kinda dozed off for a bit."

"Now come on, Mary Margaret will have my head if you're not in the house in 5 minutes."

Emma stretched her body, getting rid of all the kinks from sitting for so long. "Alright alright, I'm going."

Both of them got out of the truck, Emma making sure to grab her trusty stick. They went to the back of the truck where her belongings were stored.

"Actually, why don't you go right in, I'll take the stuff inside." David said, after a moment's thought.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "I get the feeling this is part of a plot or something, but I'll go with it; I don't fancy having to take up my stuff up the stairs. Second floor, right?"

"Yep. Need any help getting inside?"

Emma laughed and held up her stick. "I've got it David."

She turned around and made her way to the building's door. Finding the staircase railing had been simple, so she started to climb, each step heavier than the last as she steeled her nerves. 2 minutes later and Emma was standing in front of the apartment door. She raised her hand, and knocked firmly.

Not even 3 seconds went by, making Emma wonder if Mary Margaret had been waiting directly on the other side of the door, and she heard it swing wide open. "Emma!"

Next thing she knew, she felt the air running out of her lungs as she was hugged tightly. "Mar, air!"

"Oh right!" Mary Margaret seemed to have noticed the strength of her hug and backed off. "Sorry, it's just been so long though."

"Yeah." Emma looked down, scuffing her boots together. "5 years."

"Mommy, who is this?" A little voice piped up, making Emma look up with wide eyes.

Mary Margaret replied, "James, meet your Aunt Emma."

"Cool!" Once more Emma was engulfed in a hug, but this time it seemed that the kid barely reached her waist.

"Hey James, nice to meet you." She returned the hug briefly, before ruffling the boy's hair.

"No touchie hair!" Emma could just see the pout in the little boy's voice as he backed off and presumably also made to comb his hair back with his fingers.

Her sister meanwhile, was laughing. "Sorry Emma, he's a little bit sensitive about his 'do, but anyway come on inside!"

"Wait for me!" David had appeared, climbing the stairs with her backpack and luggage in tow.

"Need any help?" Emma asked, turning to the sound of the voice.

"Nah, don't worry about it, just get inside and Mar will hold the door open for me."

"You can go sit on the couch. It's inside to your right."

Emma followed the instruction and went inside. She found her way to the couch with little difficulty, bypassing a table on her way. And by bypassing she meant she walked right into it, hard. But she patted herself on the back mentally for not having sworn in front of the kid as she was wont to do.

"So Emma! How have you been?" Emma felt the sofa sink just the slightest bit as her sister sat down beside her.

"Pretty good, or as good as a girl without a job can be."

"Right well, tomorrow we can check over the classifieds section of the paper and see who's hiring, what do you think?"

Emma smiled and nodded. "Sure."

"Now, as for your room, we have the loft available, but the stairs are kinda rickety, so you can try negotiating with James to see if he's willing to trade you his room. Fair warning though, you'll have to do a favour for him if you want him to even consider it."

"Nah, I can take the loft. I wouldn't want to impose."

Mary Margaret sighed. After a beat, she said, "Emma, how many times do I have to tell you, you're not imposing. You're my sister, you're family! You'd never be imposing."

"Making your kid move out of the room he's had for 5 years just to accommodate his bum aunt for who knows how long seems like a pretty annoying imposition Mar."

"Emma..."

"It's okay Mar, I'm good with taking the loft,  _really_."

Mary Margaret knew it was futile to argue with Emma. Even less so when she knew that the number one reason for her worry and reluctance to having Emma take the loft room was that she might fall and hurt herself. But she knew that if she voiced that Emma would tear her a new one and leave for who knows how long now. "Alright, then at least let me help you unpack, and then James can give you a tour of the place while I make dinner, sounds good?"

"Perfect." Emma grinned.

* * *

Emma couldn't sleep. She had tried to fall asleep countless times, but each time was unsuccessful.

" _3:16 AM._ " Her phone read. Wonderful, she was going to be a zombie when she woke up in the morning.

She always felt the night time to be her element. It was here that she felt like everyone else. At this time everyone was dazed and fumbling around wildly and crashing into things. It was a bit of a morbid and cruel thought, but Emma still thought about it often.

Her thoughts wandered and drifted into the philosophical and deep questions when her insomnia attacked. Tonight's topic seemed to be her life thus far.

She had never had parents. Having been abandoned on the side of the road when she was a newborn, Emma had grown accustomed to life only as a temporary resident in other people's homes. Her first few years had been pretty good; she had been adopted into a lovely family, until they discovered why she seemed unable to walk without crashing into something, and couldn't find objects once they had been taken from her and placed elsewhere. Then they had taken her back to the orphanage as if she was a defective product, and Emma was without a family once more.

From that point on Emma migrated all over the Eastern seaboard, jumping from home to home. She'd had good homes and bad homes, parents that had to give her up for reasons out of their control, and parents that she couldn't wait to get away from. By the time she was 16, Emma had been through enough and dreaded her next placement.

And then the Blanchards had come along. Leo Blanchard, along with his daughter Mary Margaret were ecstatic at the chance of adopting Emma. They accepted her as she was, and were more than glad to help her with anything she needed. Emma had flourished with the family, and with her new sister. Although Mary Margaret was 2 years older than her, the two hit it off as great friends, and she was ready to defend her new little sister and help her through obstacles.

By the time Emma had graduated high school, the big question was, what was she going to do? There weren't a lot of options available for her. Her only redeeming trait was that she had a fantastic memory. Like a photographic memory sans the photography part. There was an irony to it, but Emma loved her great memory nonetheless. So she went to University, studying English Literature while Mary Margaret went into Teaching. Once graduation had come around, the question she had tried to avoid came back and slammed into her like a 16-wheeler.

What in the world could a blind girl do with her life?

Emma never liked to admit that she was blind. Her blindness was seen by everyone as a weakness or a deficiency. No, she  _refused_  to see it as such. When people started to coddle her for being blind, she would do the impossible - and sometimes dangerous - just to prove them wrong. She was reckless, and she was brash. More often than not it was what got her fired from jobs. The other times it was because she was seen as a token handicapped employee so the upper echelon of a company could feel good about filling their quota of minorities. What that meant was that she was a glorified trophy - barely there and given meagre tasks. She hated it when that happened.

So what could she do?

Emma had tried mostly everything. She had tried cooking, though that ship crashed and burned - literally on the burned - while in cooking school. She had tried to become a librarian, but the silence made her antsy. And with that were a myriad of other jobs. Call centre operator, cashier, musician, journalist, and her default, secretary. Being a secretary seemed to work pretty good for her, though the bosses left nothing to be wished for.

At 26, Emma was at a crossroads. Living in New York wasn't cheap, and she was stumped on what to do. So when the yearly call from Mary Margaret to wish her a happy birthday came around, her older sister insisted that she come live with her and her family.

Emma was forced to swallow her pride and accept defeat after two months of denial. She loved her sister, don't get her wrong, but things had changed.

It had started when Mary Margaret had graduated. She knew David, Mar's longtime boyfriend, was going to propose that night, and was ecstatic to know what would happen. As expected, her sister had said a resounding 'Yes!'

When the question came as to whether Emma was going to move in with them, Emma had been flabbergasted.

_"Why?"_

_"Emma, you're young! We can help take care of you!"_

_She scoffed. "Take care of me? Oh, so now what, I'm the pity case that needs to be mollycoddled?"_

_"You're not the pity case, and we're not mollycoddling you, we just don't want to see you get hurt and have no one around to help if something happens!"_

_"I'm not a frail little flower Mary Margaret! I can take care of myself and have taken care of myself for a long time!"_

_"I know you have! But you're my sister and you're all I have!"_

_Emma could tell from how her sister's voice wavered that she was ready to cry. Let her cry, Emma thought bitterly. Out loud she bit back, "That is so not true. You have your fiance and you're going to have a family. I'm not going to be the handicapped burden living in your house like an invalid."_

_"Emma, you're not an invalid!"_

_"And you're doing a bang up job of convincing me of that! I can live by myself."_

That had been 7 years ago. She had moved out the week after that argument. After Emma had graduated 2 years later, she still had her doting and overbearing sister a stone's throw away, coming to check up on her at ridiculous times, and she had tried to tell her as much.

_"Mar, seriously, haven't I proven to you that I can live on my own?"_

_"Yes Em, but it's winter time!"_

_"So? Were you expecting me to slip and fall on the ice?"_

_"No! I just thought you'd want company..."_

_Emma raised her eyebrows. "And what, you think I wouldn't want company in the summer?"_

_"I come to visit you in the summer!" was her sister's outrageous reply._

_"Yeah but then you just claim you were 'walking around the neighbourhood enjoying the weather' and now it's making sure I'm not lonely. Honestly sis, your excuses keep getting more elaborate and far-fetched. Why don't you just say why you're **really**  here?"_

_Mary Margaret's voice quieted down as she recoiled in embarrassment, "Because you won't like the answer."_

_"Damn right I won't. You come to check up on me every other day Mar. It's like you're expecting me to keel over and forget how to function as a human at any day. It makes me feel like I'm sick, like I'm incompetent." She spat the words out like they were filth._

_"Emma I never try to make you feel like that. I just worry about you, and since you're nearby I take the opportunity to check up on you."_

So she decided to pack up and head to New York without any warning, leaving a very confused and hurt Mary Margaret with her husband and one-year old son.

That had been the last time Mary Margaret saw her sister. They had kept in touch over the phone, but it was different. She could tell that her sister was itching to ask her about coming to visit every year, or to hunt her down herself, but Emma had made her point and her sister let her live in peace for those past 5 years.

Now Emma had no other choice other than swallow her pride, and allow her older sister to help her out.

She just had to hope that by the time morning came, she would at least be awake enough.

* * *

"So, is she totally blind?"

"Shh James, please don't ask your aunt that. She doesn't like being labelled as blind."

Emma decided she should make herself known before things got complicated. Making sure to do a lot of noise, she made her way to the kitchen. "Morning."

"Emma! Good morning. You... look like you haven't really slept much."

"That's because I haven't." She found the chairs by the kitchen island easily enough, and plopped down on one.

"We were just talking about you!" Little James piped up to her right.

"Oh really? What about?" Emma feigned dumb, turning to where she heard her nephew was.

It was Mary Margaret who intervened. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing."

Emma was sure that her sister was giving her son a very meaningful look that said 'one word and you're grounded.'

" _Right._  Well can you please pass me some coffee? I need my fix in order to kickstart my brain."

10 minutes later and breakfast had gone by silently until Mary Margaret sent James running to pack up for school.

Emma used this moment to round off on her sister. "You do know I'm  _blind_ , and not  _deaf,_  right?"

"I know, but I was trying to explain to James that you couldn't see, and I didn't want you to get upset."

"Mar, my problem is that I just don't like it when people treat me differently because I'm blind. I'm not going to run off on you just for calling me blind. Neither am I going to throw a fit over it. Okay?"

She could hear the relief in her sister's voice as she responded with an "Okay."

"So, let's get cracking on those job ads huh?"

"Let's."

* * *

There were 10 job postings for jobs throughout Storybrooke. Up until Mary Margaret had to leave for school, they had gone through 3 of those ads. Afterwards, they had left the house, and Mary Margaret took her to the town's diner to introduce her to Ruby, an energetic young waitress that worked there.

"Well how about a job here?" Ruby offered after the two sisters explained that Emma was looking for a job. "It's not the most glamorous job in the world, but it's fun, if you know how to pirouette around the tables and can hold your own with 4 plates."

"Actually, that might be a bit hard..." Mary Margaret was trying to figure out how to word it.

"I'm blind." Emma blurted out, without any pretense.

Without missing a beat, Ruby replied. "Okay no pirouettes, don't worry Em, we'll find you a perfect job, and market you perfectly towards them. One of the perks of working here is that I know just what makes everyone tick, so there's no one in this town that can resist hiring you."

Emma grinned, "Great. There's like, 7 jobs I've yet to look at, want to help me?"

"Totally!" Ruby went to sit beside her new friend, taking the classifieds section in the paper.

Mary Margaret was stoked that her sister seemed to have bonded so well with her friend. "Well if you two are good, I'm going to leave for school."

"Yeah we're good. Bye sis, talk to you later." Emma smiled.

"Enjoy teaching the little twerps" Ruby sniggered.

"Oh come on they're not that bad," the young teacher admonished, playfully slapping Ruby's arm.

Once Mary Margaret had left, Ruby turned back to the paper. "Okay let's take a look at what we've got here."

"We've already looked at the library ones, the pawnshop, and the mechanic."

"Hmm, let's see. We've got a fitness instructor for the local community center..."

"Definitely not."

"Garbage duty for the fish and chips place?"

Emma made a disgusted face. "Seriously?"

"Oh here's one, secretary!" Ruby continued reading and then cleared her throat. "On second thought, better not."

"Why? I totally rock the whole secretary gig."

"You'd be working for the Mayor," Ruby grumbled.

"What's his damage?" Emma had yet to meet all of the people of the town, and since it was a small town, she guessed it wouldn't take her long to do so.

" _She_  is a piece of work. Like try to image your strictest boss, times it by two, and now put them in a mayor's chair. That's Mayor Mills in a nutshell."

"Sounds like she'd be a mission and a half to deal with, but right now, I'm not too picky. How do I go about charming her pants off?"

* * *

1 hour later and the two were headed to Town Hall, arms linked. Emma had changed her clothes, looking a bit more professional with a skirt and blazer, plus some makeup courtesy of Ruby.

After a few moments of silence, the brunette cleared her throat. "If you don't mind me asking, do you use a stick or a cane?"

"Kinda. I have one here, it's a collapsible faux wood stick, but I don't really like using it. It kind of yells 'look out blind person coming through' and I don't particularly like baring myself to the world in that way."

"Makes sense."

"How many steps?" Emma asked suddenly.

"What?" Ruby turned to face her new friend, curious eyes trying to figure out what the blonde meant.

Emma clarified. "How many steps from the door to her desk?"

Ruby thought for a moment. "Honestly I've never counted... Maybe ten?"

"Okay, should be easy enough." Sensing Ruby's question, she added. "I don't like going into an interview all 'Hi my name is Emma, I'm blind, please hire me', so my idea is to just go hand my resume and pretend to be able to see. It's not that hard, and I remember the layouts of places pretty easily."

After a few minutes, they finally reached the building. Ruby guided Emma up the stairs, and then left. The two had agreed to meet after the blonde was done. Emma took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in," an icy voice responded.

Emma slowly pushed the door open, and walked inside.

"May I help you?" the woman sounded like she was already annoyed at having been interrupted, but Emma wasn't going to be deterred.

"Yes. My name is Emma, and I'm here for the secretary position you posted on the Storybrooke Mirror." Emma started walking, confidently counting her steps. Reaching 8, she began to be careful. At 10 she paused, and waited for a response.

"Very well, resume?"

Emma inched her way closer, holding out the paper. 4 steps later, her resume was snatched up. She lowered her hand, and waited, acting as if she was looking around the room.

"Well you seem to be experienced enough, and it's not as though I have a line of potential hires coming in, so congratulations Ms. Swan, you're hired." Emma then heard a chair scrape back, and heels walk across the carpeted floor. "Now follow me, I'll show you where things are. And take good care to remember everything, I absolutely abhor having to explain myself twice."

Emma just uttered a meek "Yes ma'am!" and followed the sound of the heels, taking care to count the steps and take note of the sounds for cues.

They had barely made it out of the office before Regina turned to the right and said, "As you probably already saw, this will be your desk. I am expecting you to keep it clean and organized, I don't like sloppiness, and you're the face of my office, the first thing they see, so make sure to keep it presentable."

For the next 20 minutes, Emma was introduced to the photocopier, the mail room, the break room, she met the heads of some of the ministries, and kept her charade up incredibly enough.

"Now, I expect you to be here tomorrow morning at 9am sharp. Do you have any questions?"

Emma shook her head and smiled. "None at all Madam Mayor, I'll see you tomorrow morning."

* * *

"You got the job?! Way to go Em!" Ruby clapped her on the back, getting Emma to stumble a bit with the force. "So how was the Evil Lair of the Mayor?"

Emma laughed, responding with, "It actually wasn't that bad. Okay, it seems everyone there is scared shitless of her, but apart from that, it was actually pretty good."

Ruby snorted at Emma's response. "Yeah I'll ask again after tomorrow and see how that goes."

Emma playfully shoved Ruby, using the waitress' voice to locate her. She made contact and Ruby yelped at the push. "Girl you pack quite a punch."

"Yes I do." Emma grinned. "Also, I was wondering if I could ask you a favour."

"Shoot."

"After we finished, and the Mayor had left, I went and took a picture of my desk, can you help me locate everything?" Emma fished the phone out of her bag.

"Sure, how..." Ruby wasn't too certain how to ask, so she left the question hanging, hoping Emma understood what she meant.

By way of answering, Emma just dragged the waitress over to one of the booth tables, and sat down at one side, with Ruby beside her. "Put the objects you see on the pictures out on the table, and I'll be able to handle the rest."

Ruby was impressed, the girl was definitely ingenious. So for the next half an hour, the two women sat side by side, Emma with an inquisitive look on her face as she reached out to grab a medley of various objects and trying to match them up to their desk counterparts, memorizing its position and approximate size.

By the time the diner bell rang, signifying a new customer had arrived, Ruby and Emma were deep in their visualization, and they didn't notice the young boy make his way over to them.

"Hi Ruby!"

Said woman jumped a mile, banging her knee on the table. "Holy sh-cow kid, you can't just sneak up on people!"

The young boy seemed to be giving Ruby a look as he replied, "But I wasn't sneaking! The bell rang when I came in. It's not my fault you were distracted!"

Emma snorted at the young boy's accusation. "He's right you know."

She could feel the glare Ruby had rounded off on her, before grumbling about siding with pipsqueaks as she got out of the booth. "So kid, pick a table and I'll be bringing you a hot cocoa over?"

"Sure!" Emma had thought that was the last she'd hear of the kid, but was surprised when she felt the booth's seat shift in weight. "Whatcha doing?"

Emma turned to where the kid's voice was heard. "Oh uhm, just playing a game."

"What kind of game?"

Although Emma didn't have that much experience with kids except from ages ago in foster homes, so she knew that once their questions started, they didn't stop until they were satisfied. "It's a memory game. I'm trying to memorize where everything is located in my desk so I don't make a fool of myself come tomorrow."

She heard a giggle. "You work at a diner table?"

Emma turned to the kid and made a face at him. "No silly, this is a simulation."

"What's that?"

From the little she could tell, this kid was young, but had an unparalleled curiosity. "It's makeshift, you're pretending something is real to prepare yourself."

"Right." From the tone of his response, the boy didn't understand a word that Emma had just said.

"Here you go Henry, one cup of cocoa for you." Ruby had returned, and deposited a mug on the table with a dull clunk, before she spoke again. "I need to go tend to some other tables so you guys can bond meanwhile."

Emma nodded and went back to her pretend desk table. She hadn't even thought to look into the table's drawers, or if there were any speed-dial labels on the phone. She just hoped tomorrow the Mayor wouldn't grill her to do complicated things.

"Why do you need to memorize it? Aren't you going to be there tomorrow?" The young boy, Henry, asked after taking a loud sip of his beverage.

Emma faltered about to grab the 'stapler'. She turned to the kid and bit her lip. After taking a deep breath, she said "I...I'm blind."

Silence engulfed them. The booth seat didn't shift, which meant Henry hadn't run away, but he didn't say anything, so Emma just turned back to her makeshift desk, but before long, she felt small arms hugging her.

Although surprising, Emma returned the hug with an arm, smiling. Once they broke apart, she heard "Sorry I didn't know. But it's a pretty cool idea you have. Do you use touch to see then?"

Emma chuckled. This kid was alright, understanding and compassionate. His parents must've raised him right. "That and sounds."

"Cool!" She had to smile at the kid's enthusiasm for something that usually angered Emma eternally. She wished she could see, and although she had long accepted and settled with the fact she'd never see, she had her system to make the most of the world and to not let her blindness take away from enjoying life. "So how do you know what a person looks like?"

"Well, usually I don't, unless I know them well enough to ask them to touch their face. Then I just learn their face shape and visualize it in my mind every time they talk."

"Cool! Can you do my face?"

Emma did a double take. People didn't usually ask to be visualized, she just hoped that the kid's parents wouldn't walk in to see a strange woman with her hands all over their child's face. "I don't know kid..."

"Please?" Hands were on her arm, and she could just imagine the pout forming.

"Very well. But let me know if it gets too weird, okay?"

"Okay!"

So Emma turned a bit in her seat to face the young boy. He laughed as she traced his face, and the smile on her own face was wider than it'd been in years. He had smooth hair, getting a bit long as some of it was spilling onto his eyes, almond shaped. He had a cute nose, dimples, big ears, and a round chin. "All done!"

"That tickled!" he exclaimed.

"So what are you two up to?" Ruby had returned, standing at the foot of the table.

"She was tracing my face to see how I looked like!"

"Oh really? I'll have to ask her to do me next!"

"Yeah it's fun! But it tickles."

Ruby let out a laugh, and then grew serious as she said, "Okay Henry, you should probably head to your mom before it gets late and she gets worried."

"Oh yeah! It was nice to meet you!" Emma felt a tight hug on her, and she smiled as she hugged back.

"You too, Henry."

Soon he broke apart and ran out, door bell jingling and the door slamming.

"He was a nice kid." Emma said, feeling the seat dip once more as her new friend sat down.

"Yeah, Henry's a little charmer alright, just 8 years old and the cutest thing you'll see...er, meet." Ruby corrected, noticing her poor choice of words.

Emma just shook it off. "Don't worry, I know what you mean."

"So, I wasn't kidding about that face trace, I want to see what all the entertainment's about, the kid looked like he was having a ball."

Emma just poised herself again, raising her arms with her fingers curved, tips ready. "It's pretty simple, though let me know if it gets weird."

Ruby laughed. "You have an entire warning schpiel worked out don't you?"

She smiled and shrugged in return. "Yeah well, I learnt as a kid many years ago that people don't like getting their faces touched without their permission, so I'm on the cautious side."

"Got it. Well take it away Em."

And so Emma did, noting that the bone structure for the waitress was more jagged, high cheekbones and prominently pointy chin. She felt the long soft hair, thin nose, short ears and the mouth upturned into a smirk, accompanied by plush lips. "There you go!"

"I can see the entertainment, it was fun!" Ruby responded as Emma retracted her hands. "And now you can say you've bonded with your boss' son which-"

"What?!" Emma spluttered, her eyes widening. "Are you telling me cute little Henry is the son of my intimidating boss? The Mayor's kid knows I'm blind, despite the fact that the entire point was to  _not_  let her know right away that I was blind?!"

She could just note the grimace and apologetic smile as Ruby said, "Right, true, hadn't thought about that."

"'Hadn't thought'...Ruby why didn't you  _tell me_?" Emma was panicking.

"How was I supposed to let you know? 'Henry meet Emma, she's your mom's new employee! But don't tell your mom that she's blind, it's a secret'?"

Emma groaned. "At least he doesn't know my name."

* * *

"So how was your day, Henry?" Regina asked, looking over to where her son was seated as they ate dinner.

"It was okay, but the coolest thing happened after school!" Henry said, eyes shining with excitement.

"Oh? What was it?" She could never have enough of her son's contagious wonder. It made her bland days filled with incompetence guaranteed to have some happiness in her life. Adopting him had to be one of the best decisions she had ever made.

"I met a blind person today!"

Regina's face scrunched up in confusion. She wasn't aware there were any blind people in Storybrooke, though old man Barry could qualify, seeing as the man constantly confuses one of the light posts on Main Street for his wife Petunia. "Is that so? Were you kind to them?"

"Duh mom, of course. But she was really cool, she was doing a sim...simu...a pretend game trying to see things on her desk by feeling them!"

Regina smiled at her son, figuring out the word. "A simulation?"

"Yeah! She was funny. She even traced my face!"

Her eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Traced?"

"Mhmm! Since she can't see, she uses touch and sounds to see, so she traced my face with her hands to find out how my face looked like."

"I see, and where did you meet her, Henry?" Her alarm bells weren't ringing quite yet, but her curiosity was to try and gain more information about this meeting to assure herself it wasn't anyone weird, though she didn't want to panic quite yet. She was fiercely protective of her child, but she didn't want to make it too obvious.

"At the diner, she's friends with Ruby and they were sitting together playing their game."

Well that was alright, she supposed. Ruby was trustworthy, despite her more questionable attire sometimes, but she knew the waitress was protective of her son. "Well I'll have to meet her sometime then."

"Yeah! Maybe she'll be there tomorrow!"

* * *

At 9:01 am Emma was spilling through the doorway to the Mayor's office and towards her desk.

"Ah Ms. Swan, you're here, and a minute late." Regina said, coming to stand at her doorway, which had been open so she saw her new assistant barging in.

"Sorry Madam Mayor, it was a bit of a rush to get here."

"Ms. Swan, I didn't hire you to make up excuses, but rather to be efficient. So how about you start making yourself useful?" Regina's heels told Emma was was walking her way towards her, and a stack of papers fluttered, meaning she was about to get a load of work to do. "I need this agenda to be photocopied 20 times and in time for my town meeting at 10, so if I were you, I'd get going."

Emma heard the papers as they were obviously held out, the heels coming to a stop a little distance from her. She reached her hand out and made contact with the stack of papers. "Sure thing, I will get these to you right away, Mayor Mills."

Regina turned around without sparing the blonde another glance. "I'd hope so, that's why you were hired."

Emma ground her teeth. Prickly lady she was. How in the world could she have raised such a sweet kid while being the incarnation of a bitchy lady?

But Emma wasn't about to complain, not out loud at least, and made her way to the photocopy room. She took out her cellphone and said, "Camera"

A bleep was heard as the phone complied to her spoken request. Since Emma couldn't see, she had activated the accessibility function on her phone which allowed for spoken prompts to guide her phone to do things for her. She held the phone to an approximate distance from the pieces of paper in her hand, and tapped the screen. She heard the shutter click and grinned. Sometimes technology was amazing.

"Send to: Ruby." Another bleep rang out, signifying that the request was completed. "Call Ruby."

She heard the call was made and put the phone up to her ear to talk.

"Wow that was quick, did she grill you for existing?"

"Pretty much, I was  _one minute_  late Rubes, and she got on my case. But anyway, I got photocopying duty, I sent you a picture, can you check to see if I'm holding the papers right side up?"

"Yeah, give me a sec." Emma waited in line while Ruby checked the picture. "You there?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, you're holding them upside down, so do a 180 and you'll be golden. How many pages did she give you?"

"I think there's 5 pages here. It's for a meeting, I'd hate to have to attend one of those."

"You and me both."

"Okay, I'll call you in a bit to make sure that I staple the photocopies properly, 'cause some copiers spew them out in any which direction."

Ruby laughed as she responded. "Don't worry Em. Oh you should probably let me check the photocopier control panel, otherwise you'll end up printing out creepy memos from 5 years ago or something equally ridiculous."

Emma smiled, "Right, good point. Call you in a bit."

2 minutes later and they were talking again, Emma having just sent a new picture.

"Okay, you got your hand on the controls?"

Emma responded in the affirmative, and they got to work on figuring out the controls. 10 minutes later and Emma was making copies of the first page. "Now I just have 45 minutes to make 20 copies of some 4 pages more. I'm gonna send the first page so you can check the direction"

"Have fun! And sure send it my way" They hung up again, and Emma did just that. After confirming it came out the right way, Emma set to work.

* * *

"Ms. Swan, I hope cutting it close isn't a habit with you, because right now, I'm not impressed. I have 5 minutes to head over to get ready for the meeting that I should have been already at, 10 minutes ago." She said as she saw her new assistant come through the door carrying the stack of papers and looking completely discombobulated. She was not happy, and made her way to where the blonde was.

"Sorry about that Madam Mayor. Here are the copies you requested." Emma held out the stack in front of her.

"Thank you. Now go to your desk and do the rest of your duties. I left a memo on your desk with what I want you to do. Once I return from my meeting in a few hours I'll let you know what new tasks I have." Regina saw the young woman make her way to her desk, and she left the office, heading downstairs to where the meeting hall was.

"Thank you everyone for waiting, and sorry for the delay, there was a pressing issue I had to take care of." Regina, always big on entrances, entered the hall with a flourish, making her way to where the big table where everyone was already seated at. She settled down at the head of the table, passing the stack of agendas around.

"Now, I've passed out the agenda for this meeting, I've stapled it along with a few potential newsletter topics and designs, as well as some memos that a few departments wish to communicate... yes Mr. Collin, what seems to be the problem?"

Said man lowered the hand he had raised meekly, and cleared his throat. "I think there's a few pages missing Madam Mayor. Specifically the back pages. Because you go from page 1 to 3..."

Regina drowned out the rest the man said as she grabbed a package from the nearest man and saw that Collin was right. Oh she was going to give that soon to be ex-secretary of hers a piece of her mind.

* * *

Emma was feeling pretty good about herself. She had managed to get her first assignment done, and despite taking a long time - that darn stapler had something against her, she was sure of it - she felt that she would be able to excel here, at least for the time being. She'd also gotten a head start on the new tasks as well, having gotten Ruby to relay the instructions written to her.

All of those good thoughts flew right out of her mind and into the trash the minute she heard the door slam open. "What the hell kind of secretary do you pretend to be? Are you blind?"

"Yes." Emma had stood up lightning fast the minute the door slammed open, and now she stood stock still after having uttered the syllable, wondering how she found out. Did Henry connect the dots and somehow let her know?

"Wait what?" The rage that had been there a few seconds ago disappeared, replaced by complete and utter confusion.

Emma faltered. "You asked..."

She heard the Mayor walk up to the desk. "I was asking because you completely failed to photocopy the backs of every single page in the booklet, Ms. Swan."

Emma blanched. She had completely forgotten to check if it was double sided. "I'm sorry Mayor Mills, I-"

"Stop." Emma shut up with the command, hands itching to fidget. "Why didn't you mention you were blind?"

She didn't miss the change of tone, the sudden softness in the Mayor's voice. "I-I don't exactly like advertising it. It either leads me to not getting a job, or being treated like an invalid, and I really need the money so I just pretend to see."

It was silent for a few moments before the Mayor asked, "Well I would've preferred to have known about it beforehand, that way I could've given you more clear instructions. I am curious though... you didn't use a cane, how did you know..."

"Where your desk was and everything? Ruby accompanied me, and then gave me approximate step counts. And today well, I have a good memory, I can remember layouts pretty easily. I use touch and sounds to locate and identify everything. Though I do have a cane I use when I'm not pretending."

It was then that Regina connected the dots. "Did you by any chance meet a young boy yesterday? Henry?"

Emma smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he's a cute kid, you did a great job raising him." Ruby had explained to her later that there was no Mr. Mills, and that Regina was a single mother that had adopted the young boy.

Regina accepted the compliment with her own smile, until she realized that Emma couldn't see it. "Thank you...and I do apologize for having yelled at you."

"It's okay, you didn't know." After a beat, Emma asked, "So does that mean I'm not fired?"

"No dear, you're very much still employed. Henry mentioned yesterday that you were attempting to simulate your desk?" She had no idea why she was striking up a conversation with the blonde, she was planning on chewing the woman out and kick her to the curb, but now with the discovery, she found herself not only keeping the woman employed, but also conversing with her. She seemed kind and enthusiastic, she could see why Henry was so ecstatic about meeting her. It was easy to talk to her.

"Yeah. I didn't want to look like a complete idiot by not being able to locate anything around my desk if you happened to come in and ask for something. I was eventually going to tell you I was blind, but usually I wait a week or so, so that my boss can see I don't need to be coddled, and can hold my own. Obviously I hadn't thought double-sided sheets would rat me out."

Regina chuckled. "I'm impressed, you could've fooled me, and I'm usually an expert at sniffing out deception."

"I have no doubt about that, Madam Mayor."

"Please, Ms. Swan. Regina is fine."

Emma's smile was vibrant as she shuffled her feet. "Okay  _Regina,_  only if you drop the Ms. Swan and call me Emma. And anyway, I have no doubt you're a pro bullshit finder, but I have many years under my belt at fooling the best into thinking I can see."

"Is finding a job that hard?" Regina was genuinely curious as she asked.

"Finding it, no, getting employed though, and then keeping it? Hard as hell. Some of them I just quit, bosses have never been that great."

She heard Regina make her way around the desk to stand to the left of where she was. She pivoted and swore she heard the smirk behind the question "So on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad of a boss am I?"

Emma gave a sheepish smile as she replied, "0? You're a great boss, wonderful really."

And then Regina laughed, a truly wonderful and melodic laugh; Emma would've paid buckets of gold to get her to laugh like that again. "Was that before or after I let you keep your job despite your fantastic bungle?"

Emma pouted, "Oh come on, I feel like I'm playing with fire here, I'm just a simple girl trying to keep my job. Can't I just give you a mug that says '#1 boss' and we can call it a day?"

Regina once more chuckle and respond with "Very well, I will accept a mug as a response. Now, have you already eaten lunch?"

Emma made a mental note to find some kind of custom coffee mug maker within this small town that could help her out. Out loud she said, "Not yet, I was waiting till you got back so if you wanted me to run any more errands, or needed me to get lunch for you, I'd only have to make one trip."

"Well thank you, that'd be wonderful."

After Regina relayed her order and Emma had left, she got to thinking about the blind blonde in front of her. Her hat was off to the younger woman for being so determined to not let her blindness deter her from having a successful life. It was the kind of determination she had from trying to get away from her mother's shadow, so she understood trying to prove something not only to the world, but themselves too. She found herself wanting to get to know the blonde so much more, and wondered how she'd go about it.

* * *

Emma was sitting at her desk, while Regina was talking with this snobby businessman that had come in an hour ago. Emma didn't know why, but she had developed a streak of anger at hearing the self-righteous man practically demand audience with Regina and then while he waited, questioning her.

They hadn't even managed to talk after Emma left to get lunch, because by the time she got back, Regina had a few people waiting to see her, so Emma just quickly deposited the lunch on her boss' desk with a smile that she hoped Regina saw, and went back to her desk to orderly mark the people who were here and tell them to be patient and to wait.

Meanwhile inside the Mayor's office, Regina was trying to not tear Spencer to pieces. He was requesting a form from her and she filled it quietly, wanting to be rid of him as soon as she could, 20 minutes was just too much to deal with scum like him. She could feel his smug face looking at her as she wrote, and desperately wished she could punch the bastard.

"Your new secretary lady is a weird one." Spencer suddenly said.

Regina looked up, mouth setting into a grimace. The repulsive man had been outside her office for the past 40 minutes, he better not have offended Emma. But for now she'd play the part of the fool. "Oh?"

"Yeah. She was making holes on a sheet for no reason. Every time I tried to ask, she'd just say, 'please be patient sir, Mayor Mills will be with you shortly' like she was some kind of goddamn robot or broken tape recorder. Seriously, perhaps you should've hired someone with a brain."

The vein on her forehead was probably protruding by now. "Mr. Spencer, if you want  _me_  to do something  _for you_ , especially something as a personal favour instead of waiting the required weeks like any other citizen in this town, you should perhaps  _avoid_  trying to question my staff or my hiring abilities. So kindly shut up, or wait somewhere else, because right now I'm tempted to tear this form to pieces and make you wait for it."

But Spencer wasn't deterred, his sitting posture still giving an air of superiority as he replied, "You're defending her? I heard what happened earlier, she forgot to photocopy the back sides of the pages. How can someone with at least half a brain fuck up so badly?"

Regina had had enough. "Out.  _Now._ "

"Now, Regina..."

"I don't care what you have to say. You will wait outside until I finish this, and if I find out you utter a peep at my secretary and I will go through with my threat and tear this to pieces."

She stood up and so did Spencer. They held a glaring contest for a few moments before he conceded and left her office.

* * *

"It's you! You work for my mom?" Emma raised her head at hearing the enthusiastic boy from yesterday exclaim as he bounded into the room.

"Yep, small world huh? By the way, I'm Emma." She suddenly heard the patter of feet run towards her desk, swerve it, and give her a tight hug.

"And I'm Henry! This is so cool! Does my mom know you're blind?"

And so Emma related the story with the photocopier to Henry, receiving a very amused laugh from the young boy by her side. "So kid, do you wait here until your mom is finished with work?"

"Yep, I usually work on homework while I'm here."

Emma smiled, "Well then I wouldn't want to face Regina's wrath if she saw I was distracting you from doing your homework."

The boy giggled and agreed, sitting down in the visitor's sofa, legs swinging slowly and thumping against the couch, as he worked on his assignments.

Suddenly the door opened, and Emma looked up, unsure who was coming out of Regina's office.

"You can take a seat on a chair Mr. Spencer." Emma heard Regina's voice from within the room. Clearly she'd had enough of the repulsive man and had kicked him out. Although she was glad the man was out of her Regina's office, she wasn't too keen on having to deal with him again.

"So, what is up with the poking holes? Is it some type of coping mechanism? Are you prone to mental breakdowns?"

Emma really didn't want to answer the man, so she just ground out, "Please sit down sir."

"Do you know who I am young lady? I can have you fired faster than you can tell me to sit down again. So if I were you, I'd mind my tongue."

"Leave her alone! She doesn't want to talk to you!" Henry had piped up, and Emma prayed the man wasn't the type that would hit a child just because he thought they were being insolent.

"Henry Mills, getting older by the day aren't you?" The jovial tone almost gave Emma whiplash, but she could note the undertones of malice.

"Yeah, I'm eight and a half." Emma's heart melted for the little boy, but she had her fist clenched as she stood, ready to pounce.

"Well Henry, you're still a child, so why don't you let me and this young lady talk without butting in on matters you don't understand?"

Emma could hear the man start to make his way to the young boy, so Emma quickly tried o make her way to step in front of Spencer and to protect Henry. However she clearly missed a ficus in her plan, and went tumbling down with a crash, taking the tall plant and vase with her.

"Emma!"

Suddenly the door opened again, and Regina was fuming. She had heard a commotion beginning outside, and opened the door just to witness Henry running to help Emma, who had fallen over a ficus plant, and Spencer standing with his air of superiority.

"Out!" Emma had at first thought Regina was speaking to her, but then the Mayor continued with, "You can look forward to receiving instructions on how to fill out your form in the mail, Mr. Spencer, so have a good day, and don't come here asking for favours  _ever again_."

Although she wasn't on the receiving end of that, Emma still shuddered. Regina was a force to be reckoned with. But that only made her admire her more. And dare she say she was beginning to question what her feelings fore Regina actually were. She heard heels make their way over to where Henry was crouching beside her, and she heard fabric rustling. "Are you alright, dear?"

Emma cleared her throat, going to stand up. "Yeah, just fine. I forgot about the ficus and just tripped on it."

Emma felt Regina grip her upper arm to help her stand up, and surprisingly enough, she didn't mind. "Henry can you untangle the ficus from Emma and set it straight?"

Henry made a noise of agreement and she felt the plant being moved away.

Once she was standing once more, Emma looked towards Regina. "Thanks. And sorry for interrupting you, I-"

"Don't apologize. The man is an idiot, and needed to be reminded of his place. Now, how about you call it an early day, Henry can show you around town for a bit, and then in a couple of hours, you join us for dinner at my house?"

Emma was ready to say no, that she shouldn't worry, but then she thought about the little boy beside her, who grabbed her hand, and she could bet that he was probably smiling goofily at her. "I'd love to. Are you sure you don't need my help?"

"It's quite alright, and if I need anything, we can always tackle it tomorrow."

After a few minutes, both Emma and Henry had left, with the boy talking nonstop about the town, people who lived there and what there was to do.

Regina turned back to the desk, and saw the piece of paper with holes in it. It was peculiar, with a ruler underneath it as if the holes were supposed to be orderly. It was then that Regina realized what she was looking at. Emma was writing things down in braille, but of course, she had to make the letters stand out somehow, so she poked a pen through the paper. She made a mental note to invest in supplies that could facilitate writing down notes in braille for her secretary.

* * *

"Thank you for dinner, it was lovely." Emma and Regina were sitting in the living room, Henry had gone up to his room to head to bed, and both women were sitting on the couch, each with a cup of coffee in their hands. Dinner had been a pleasant affair, Henry talking their ears off throughout the entire time. During that time, each woman was off in their own musings, wondering on the same thing. What did they feel for the other woman? Were they falling for the other?

"It's the least I could do for having to deal with Spencer. I'm sorry if he gave you a hard time today."

Emma shrugged it off. "It's okay, I've had to deal with guys a lot worse than him. To be honest I was more worried about what he'd do to Henry. That's why I was rushing, I heard him moving towards Henry."

Regina was shocked. Of course there were a few people in town had shown they cared about Henry and protected him, like Ruby, but Emma was putting her son before everything else.

"And that is why you deserve to be thanked. You put Henry's safety first, and I'm glad to see he gets along with you."

Emma just flashed an adorable smile that Regina wanted to see every day. "Yeah we really bonded yesterday."

Regina hummed in response. "Yes he told me about it, you traced his face, as he called it."

"Yeah, it's something I do." Emma shrugged, before continuing. "It helps me visualize someone's face. Of course I asked him for his permission first."

Regina doesn't know what or how, but something had possessed her long enough to ask, "Do you want to do mine?"

"W-what? Your face? I-if you don't mind, yeah it'd be cool..." Emma was trying to control her nerves. Regina Mills, the woman she was sure she had a crush on, was asking to have her face traced. She put her coffee down on table beside her, having noted it beforehand with her shin.

A similar clunk followed, meaning Regina had put her cup down as well. She felt the couch shift as Regina got closer, their knees touching.

"I know it's going to sound silly, but if you start feeling uncomfortable at any moment, just let me know and I'll stop."

Regina hummed as way of response, and Emma brought her hands to the other woman's face. Her hair was short, barely brushing past her shoulders, the eyes almond, like her son's eyes, and she wondered at the coincidence despite that they weren't biologically related. The nose wasn't too sharp, but with her cheekbones, it gave Emma a regal air about the woman. She might've been a queen in another life. Above her lip was a tiny scar, and as her thumb brushed over it, she decided she'd one day ask about it. As her hand made their way down Regina's cheeks, she felt her arms fold as the other woman brought their faces closer together. She could hardly believe that what she hoped would happen might actually come true.

And it did. Their lips connected and Emma smiled against the kiss, noting the other woman was also smiling. They moved in sync as they kissed, small moans escaping the back of their throats. Once they broke for air, Regina knew she must be as flushed as Emma looked.

"So, what would you prefer? #1 boss or #1 girlfriend?"

**Author's Note:**

> And that was that!
> 
> I'm really sorry if it felt like I wasn't doing justice to the prompt, I had a bit of a block trying to make sure Emma's blindness was properly portrayed, while also not making it seem like I was skimping on the visual descriptors. Also, I didn't make Regina the blind person because I didn't realize until I had written a good chunk of the prompt that I completely missed that part. And I hoped it wasn't rushed.
> 
> So regarding the FTL version of this prompt, I have my doubts it'd fit into a drabble, plus I really want to expand on it and make it a full fic. So look out for it sometime! Probably more when my current fic list goes down.
> 
> Also let me know what you thought about this drabble, and if you have any requests!


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